The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-12-13
THE MooDUs MYSTERY.
How English Magician Stole the Gar
bunc1e and Lost His Life at Sea.

buncle and Lost His Life at Sea-
New Haven Letter in Globe Democrat.
There died recently at Moodus Conn.,. a Mrs
Brooks, who had resided in the quaint and
sleepy village Salmon river few miles
from the forks of the Connecticut, for over a
century. She, perhaps, was better acquainted
with the facts about the s.Moodus noises" than
any other living person.
It is at the foot of Mount Tom whence the
mysterious noises have issued at irregular IN
tervals since the earliest settlement of the
country. Many fanciful tales have been pub
lished byF story writers with 1.-The Moodus
noises for text, but the old legend is a very
simple one.sand in nearly all of It's details 1T Is
known to be correct
DR.. Steelt an Englishman. skilled in the black
art. heard the Moodus noises either by report or
dlvination, and knowing that the sounds be-
tokened existence in the bowels of the Moo0us
mountains of big carbuncle that was ripe for
picking. crossed the ocean with the purpose OF
getting it. an
He arrived in Moodus one day in early au-
tumn, and after making few inquiries of the
people of the hamlet among whom was Mrs.
Brooks, climbed Mount Tom in the ensuing
evening. - D.
He listened intently for several hours to the
hollow grooming of the precious and priceless
gem buried in the rocky cavernS hundreds OF
feet beneath him.
Then he returned to the village.
The Doctor remained in Moodus for several
weeks, and, as he preserved strange. silent
manner had wonderfully brilliant eyes, and
gave evidence. whenever he spoke. of possessing
an extraordinary fund of occult knowledge, he
himself.
It was noticed that he visited the mountain
every night, and spent several hours in medlta-
ton, incarnation or exploration.
Finally he was missing from MooduS, and
not much later it was discovered that he had
sailed on a small vessel for England. With the
in the bowels of Mount Tom suddenly ceased.
No tidings were received from the English
magician for several months, and then came
the report by a ship that the vessel that bore
m (nnnacticI1t lnSf m
the bursting of the giant carbuncle, and that
only one man on board was rescued. The Doc
tor went to the bottom with his gen.
While he was in Moodus the Englishman ex-
planned to an acquaintance there the nature of
a carbuncle. He said that it grew in the heart
of certain mountains of peculiar geological
formation, and. having attained a certain size.
it groane3 until some one came along who was
able to relieve it; that its nature could not
brook imprisonment 1T takes 100 years to
grow carbuncle" said the Doctor "A century
hence there will be- another formed in
Mount Tom"
1t is a local legend that Mount Tom is hollow,
and that there is a hidden entrance which DR..
Steel was able to find. that will conduct its ex-
plorer to the heart of the mountain, vast
vaulted chamber. in which the white (good) and
black tbad) witches of Mackimoodi gather
nightly before their majestic king. On the
wall of the chamber the carbuncle grows in the
damp. black rock. luminous mass like the
gibbous moon which lights up the caverns with
a strange, unearthly glow of prismatic hues.
The Euglishman penetrated to this chamber
and had chlSeled the gem from its setting when
the mountain suddenly quaked. a mysterious in
draft of air swept around him and crowd of
gathering phantoms arrested his attention. He
turned and confronted by the king of
Mackimoodi and his witches. There was full
house. The king seated himself on his throne
opened court. and DR. Steel was hauled before
it to explain what his business in the cav
As the Doctor had the carbuncle. and had
prudently put it in his pocket the king made
him hold it up that the court could see to try
the charge of grand larceny that Enthusiastically
stood against him. The king heard the Doctors
statement, and the white and black witches
made the pleas for and against the intruder
respectively. At the end the king decided that
the white witches had the best of it.
"After all, said his Majesty in conclusion,
this carbuncle is small matter. 1t Will en-
rich you and endow you with supernatural
powers. but we grow another here without
any trouble. You can go, Dr. Steel"
Before Mrs. Brookss death she used to tell
wonderful tales of the marvellous carbuncle 1t
seems DR.. Steel boarded with her grandmother
and that after his successful trip into the
Il have heard her say" relates Mrs. Brooks,
that it as big butternut. and go
fiery was its light that could look upon
it.
Mrs. Brooks said that her grandmother had
often told her that there spirits in the
heart of the mountain. 1t is a fact that the
residents of the village will never venture near
the mountain after sunset for fear of the
spirits that are supposed to inhabit the great
cavern.